1) They look awesome and give a lifter that athletic "power look."
2) They provide an important platform for the barbell during movements such as squats and behind the neck presses.
3) They are insanely powerful muscles which aid in pretty much every compound movement.
4) They support stability in the upper back increasing the amount of weight lifted in the squat, bench, deadlift, and Olympic lifts.
5) Weak people have small traps. Larger traps correlate with a strong person.
During my unfortunate and unavoidable hiatus from lifting one of the areas I wanted to bring up quickly was my traps. For the reasons above and others. They are a very important muscle to focus on. For me, the more beef I have on my back the more weight I can comfortably set on my back to squat. Also, strong traps make any type of pulling movement easier. Whether it is off the ground, vertically, horizontally-- and so on.
I would like to share with you what I did to focus on building distinguishable trapezius muscles. First, let me share with you before, during, and after photos. They are not the best of quality, but will give you an idea of what some simple persistent training can do for you.
First off, this is me around December 2012:
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| Dec. 2012 |
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| June 2013 |
...and finally, about 6 months after that at the end of 2013.
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| December 2013 |
This is what I did. Nothing fancy, just a combination of classic bodybuilding schemes and olympic assistance work. Regardless of your weekly split, just add these in accordingly however you would like, and what compliments your training days. 3 x 12 reads 3 sets of 12 reps.
Weeks 1-4
Day 1: High Face Pull 3 x 12
Day 2: Snatch Grip Hi Pull 5 x 5
Day 3: High Face Pull 3 x 12
Weeks 5-8
Day 1: High Face Pull 3 x12, pause for 1 second at top contraction
Day 2: Snatch Grip Hi Pull 3 x 3
Day 3: High Face Pull, Drop Sets 3 x 25, no rest between sets.
That is it, I pretty much cycled that for a solid year and the only thing I changed was increasing the weight every chance I was able to.
Now remember this is all assistance work. So this should be used in conjunction with a solid strength training template. If you're looking for a solid strength program check out my article on An Effective Variation of 5x5. It will get you strong and jacked, guaranteed. Hope this helps.
Hi Phil, I chanced upon your blog when I was searching for stuff on Smolov. Ireally enjoy your writing and happy to know there are people like me who love to squat! I just completed my base meso and had a 25kg. Increase. Going into week 2 of switching. Reading ur entry on smolov reall inspires and keeps me going.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, thank you so much for taking the time to give me a shout. 25kg gain just in the base is friggin outstanding! Keep up the hard work, let me know how the intense cycle goes for you. Stick with it, it is tough but well worth it.
ReplyDeleteGreat trap and back development, Phil. Your training proved to be effective. I have incorporated face pulls into my program the past four weeks so I hope I notice improvement, too! I enjoyed the blog, as always. Happy training.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lauren, you have made some excellent progress as well!
DeleteHi Phil. thanks for your encouragement. By the way, my name is Boon, from Singapore. I am 35, married with 2 kids. been squatting for many years. started on smolov with a crocked back (spondylolisthesis). I started with a conservative one rm of 155kg, even though i could previously squat 165kg. I weigh 85kg, and i was kind of hoping for 190kg, so it was disappointing i came up short.
ReplyDeletebut the good thing is i managed to squat deeper for the heavier weight. can't wait for the intense mesocycle to start. keep writing and squatting! :)
Boon, you're doing great man. So you will be going into the intense cycle using 180 kilos?
DeleteHi Phil, I will be squatting with 180 as my new 1RM for instense meso. Do u recommend that I cut 5kg off? Even though I m on swithcing now, I cld squat 170kg x 3 reps easily, albeit with belt. What is ur advice? I can't resist not squatting even thou smolov says no squatting during the switching.
ReplyDeleteDon't squat during switching. Just rest and work on speed. You have plenty of heavy lifting ahead of you. If you feel you must, you can do a single heavy negative at about 110% of your new max-- so 195 or 200 kg. Just perform the eccentric portion down to the pins (or jerk blocks or whatever).
DeleteAs far as your max going into the intense cycle. Remember, the goal is to not miss any reps. Missing reps will do nothing but bust your spirits and progress, the same goes for too many forced reps over the long course in my opinion. So, use 180kg for your max. If you find that your working sets are too heavy, drop those sets down by 5kg. Get the reps, so if decreasing the weight by 5kg is the way to do it, so be it.
Hi Phil, thanks v good advice. I will be resting (no more squats) for 4 days till I start my intense cycle next week. Hopefully, will recover in time! Keep writing and sharing training tips!
ReplyDelete